Want It! See It! Get It! Shiney Sparks explains how to visualize your way to success, just like a world class athlete.

Visualization is the process of creating a mental image or intention of what you want to happen or feel. What does this have to do with sports? In fact, a lot. But it’s not just sports, it’s life too.

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Many elite athletes use visualization to “intend” an outcome of a race or a training session. Visualization is multi-sensory; it uses not only the visual sense, but also the kinaesthetic, and the auditory sense too. By imaging a scene, filled with images of a future desired outcome, the athlete “gets into” that feeling. When done well, he imagines all the details and also the way it makes him feel to perform in that desired way. With visualization, minds and bodies are then become trained to actually perform the skill imagined.

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There are many stories of athletes who use visualization as part of their training, and they are:

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Russell Wilson (quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks) believes fervently in the power of visualization and he played through scenarios that he is convinced he will be seeing in the games.

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Wayne Rooney (striker for Manchester United) once revealed “I lie in bed the night before the game and visualize myself scoring goals or doing well. You’re trying to put yourself in that moment and trying to prepare yourself, to have a ‘memory’ before the game. I don’t know if you’d call it visualizing or dreaming, but I’ve always done it, my whole life.”

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Jack Nicklaus (Golfer) said “I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp in-focus picture of it in my head.”

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Michael Jordan (Basketball) said “Every time I feel tired while exercising and training, I close my eyes to see that picture, to see that list with my name. This usually motivates me to work again.”

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Muhammed Ali (Boxer) said “Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.”

“To be a champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.”

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Michael Phelps (Olympic Swimmer) visualized exactly how he wanted to race in the pool: every single detail of it – the start, the strokes, the ends and even to the faults. And he would do this every night and every morning.

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Visualization is not limited to use in sports or by athletes only. It can be adapted and used by the rest of us too.

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For example, you can use visualization to attract a certain event, situation, or even an object. To some, this might look like magic, but there is no magic involved. All successful people use it consciously or unconsciously to attract the success they want in their life, simply by visualizing their goals as already accomplished.

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The subconscious mind accepts whatever thoughts that you often repeat (make sure it is positive and beautiful thoughts that you are thinking of). When it accepts them, it changes your mindset, as well as your habits, and actions. All this will brings you to where you want to be.

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Think about how you can visualize an important business presentation or an interview, in the details, how you will prepare everything from your body posture, body language, your feelings, the questions that you might be asked, and how you respond them. By the time you walk into the room for it, you know, you can do it and you got this!

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If it works for the athletes, it can work for you. So go on and give it a shot. The more vivid you can visualize your future, the better your future will be!

About Shiney Sparks

Shiney Sparks is a woman who is into sports, especially Obstacle Racing, Olympic Weightlifting and CrossFit. She is also passionate about fitness/sports for children and youth and is always looking for ways to get them active. She enjoys writing about sports as it crosses-over to life lessons, as well as leadership and business. She is currently based in Singapore, and she can’t live without her coffee. She is on Twitter @ShineySparks